News stories tagged with "dot"

(01/30/12) Proponents of a new rooftop highway in the state are angry after an announcement by the state Department of Transportation this week that the agency will use $6.3 million in federal money earmarked as part of the 2005 federal highway bill for improvements along Route 11. The I-98 supporters thought the money was supposed to be used for planning studies for the new highway. But the DOT says the language in the legislation allows the money to be used for Route 11 instead. Joanna Richards reports. more

(09/27/11) A bridge in the town of Wilna, east of Watertown in Jefferson County, was closed recently after a regular state inspection showed it was no longer safe for motorists. The bridge didn't get much traffic - fewer than 100 cars a day, according to the state Department of Transportation - but residents of the area will now have to get used to a five-mile detour. And, transportation officials said, closures like this one will likely be more common as the federal government reins in its budget for repairs. Joanna Richards has the story. more

(08/26/11) It was a busy day Friday in the Champlain valley where crew worked from dawn to install the middle arch in the new Champlain bridge.

Brian Mann was following the work through the day, and he joined Nora Flaherty from the Fort in Crown Point.

(08/26/11) UPDATE: The arch was at the new site around 8 this morning. Lifting it into place is expected to take four to eight hours.
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This morning just before six am, workers on the waterfront in Port Henry fired up their tug boats and began moving the massive four hundred foot arch that will complete the Crown Point bridge.

Fifty or so people turned out early to watch, listening quietly as the tugs' big engines rumbled. Brian Mann was on the breakwater watching as the big arch left the construction yard and began its journey south to Crown Point. He spoke with Martha Foley. more

(04/29/11) Road and bridge closures are widespread in the three state transportation department regions that span the North Country.Conditions are changing, sometimes rapidly, and the DOT has an evergreen warning to never drive through standing water whether a road is closed or not.
This is the list from the DOT at 12:30 this afternoon: more

(04/08/11) New York's Transportation Department is spending millions of dollars of extra money, trying to finish the Lake Champlain Bridge by the October 9th deadline.

The old bridge was closed in 2009 and eventually demolished because of safety concerns.

At a briefing last night in Addison, Vermont, DOT officials said efforts to build the new bridge as fast as possible have been complicated by wintry weather and by debris on the lake bottom.

Still, as Brian Mann reports, community leaders and local businesses are praising the state for scrambling to finish the project on time. more

(05/18/10) A generation ago, acid rain caused by coal burning power plants in the Midwest was seen as the biggest threat to Adirondack lakes and waterways.

New environmental regulations have stopped much of that pollution. But a growing number of advocates say the next big danger is coming from a source closer to home. Every winter, state and local trucks dump thousands of tons of salt in an effort to melt the snow and ice on North Country roads.

Critics say the current system is too toxic. But a growing number of state and local officials say spreading all that salt is also too expensive. Brian Mann has our story.

(05/12/10) The budget crisis in Albany is threatening to bring state construction projects to a standstill. But New York's Department of Transportation says the effort to rebuild the Lake Champlain bridge at Crown Point is still on track. With eighty percent of the funding coming from the Federal government, the project appears to be insulated from most of the chaos in the state capital. But as Brian Mann reports, many local residents still worry that the bridge could be delayed.

(03/15/10) A lot of attention this winter has focused on the bridge crisis in the Champlain Valley. But locals in the southern Adirondacks are also worried about the rapid deterioration of the span across the Great Sacandaga Reservoir. State officials say construction of a new bridge is expected to get underway this summer. At a meeting last week, the Adirondack Park Agency approved a new design for the project expected to shave roughly $11 million off its cost. Brian Mann has details.

(12/29/09) The Crown Point bridge across Lake Champlain was demolished yesterday morning, just after ten o'clock. The span had served as a major link between Vermont and upstate New York for eight decades. It became a part of the North Country landscape and lore. Deterioration of the bridge and its closure in mid-October have crippled the Champlain Valley economy, straining ties between communities on both sides of the lake. As Brian Mann reports, many local people hope that yesterday's massive explosion marks a first step toward getting their lives back to normal.